Messi skips Barca's pre-season medical
Lionel Messi did not attend a pre-season medical with Barcelona on Sunday, a Barca club source confirmed, following his shock announcement on Tuesday that he really wants to leave the club.
Reuters footage showed players arriving for coronavirus tests on Sunday morning and Messi didn't appear. He previously been due at Barcelona's training ground at 10.15am local time. Players had received staggered appointments throughout the morning until midday.
Media reports on Saturday said Argentine Messi wouldn't normally undergo a pre-season medical or attend training on Monday.
The 33-year-old six-times world player of the year informed his lifelong club on Tuesday he wanted to leave immediately, plunging Barca into new turmoil less than two weeks after their humiliating 8-2 Champions League quarter-final defeat by Bayern Munich.
Messi's lawyers intend to invoke a clause in his four-year contract, signed in 2017, which would have allowed the forward to leave the club free of charge if he had requested it by June 10.
They will argue that that date - nominally the end of the growing season - is currently irrelevant after the coronavirus delays that led to the season's extension and the team playing deep into August.
Under the conditions of the contract which expires in 2021, the only way Messi can leave without the club's consent is if another club pays his release clause of 700 million euros
